Karo is very happy with Manny’s win and is sure he will take it all. Nick and Karo mess around with each other, which then escalates to them really getting pissed at each other. Wha? Huh? Apparently Karo got too touchy-feely with Nate who took exception to this. Not exactly the sanest reason to start a fight.

Dana gets BJ and Jens in a room while he’s off in England to discuss the semi-final matches. Jens Does Not Want teammate vs. teammate. This is precisely what Dana proceeds to suggest.

Thankfully for Jens, Dana was just fucking with him and suggests Nate vs. Gray and Joe vs. Manny.

OK, Nate is a totally awesome fighter, so I hope to not get my ass kicked for this, but am I the only one who wants to shout out “Mumbler!” (ala Willie Wonka) every time he speaks?

Joe discusses how much his trainers have helped him progress and that his strategy is to keep Manny on his back.

Weigh-ins. Goodness, Manny may be short but is he ever sporting some nice shoulders.

Dana comes back from England and gives the boys a nice dinner at the house. Some of the guys actually kinda dress up, awww.

Who just shouted out that they miss MySpace most? Cole! Come on dude, I’m a huge ass web geek, but MySpace wouldn’t even be in my top 20. Joe gets to do the Reading Out Loud presentation about how the winner gets Direct TV for Life. Which I, personally, would be down for, but I don’t blame the guys for wanting a Hummer (not THAT kind, pervert!) instead.

Joe Lauzon vs. Manny Gamburyan

Round 1. Manny goes in quickly for a takedown after Joe misses with a high-kick. Manny stays in the dominant position while Joe maneuvers around for a way to get back up. Manny grabs a guillotine in the process but Joe gets out and gets them standing against the fence for a moment. Manny takes the fight back down and both guys stay active with punches and the occasional attempt to grab for a submission. They get standing in a clinch for a second before Manny gets the fight down again.

Round 2. Manny immediately goes for a takedown again but this time Joe is able to fight him off for the first two attempts. This puts them up against the cage in a clinch and Manny grabs a leg to dump Joe. Manny gets to half guard where Joe manages to hold him for a bit until Manny slides to full mount for a brief moment. Joe gets him back to full guard and then the ref stands them up for inactivity. Manny gets a trip and hangs onto Joe’s upper body. Joe manages to reverse this and the round ends with them against the fence.

Round 3. Manny works for the takedown again to start the round and Joe is able to fight it off until the third attempt where he went to grab one of Manny’s legs for a submission on the way down. He wasn’t able to do anything with it though and they end up the same as in the first two rounds. Joe manages to reverse them and gets Manny’s back. Joe tries for a rear naked choke and Manny turtles up to avoid it before switching their positions again and is very aggressive as the round ends.

Winner: Manny Gamburyan via unanimous decision

Dana admits to underestimating Manny on a Rashad level and apologizes for it. Joe takes his loss well.

Episode 12

Very interesting “Last Time on the Show…” recap as it focuses almost solely on the Jens/BJ dislike with only a small mention of this episode’s fight.

BJ thinks Gray can take the fight if he really works for it and lets the coaches help him.

Nate gets a hold of a bag of oranges, which he proceeds to lob at the house. This evolves into a full scale fruit war. Brian and Cole defend the house and are actually pretty creative with their fortifications including the ping-pong table. They have to retreat to the bathroom where they are eventually defeated.

Dana busts out with a $10,000 ping-pong challenge for Jens and BJ. Perhaps he was inspired by the table’s use earlier. Dana also announces that everyone on the winner’s team gets $1,000.

Aww Jens is all weirded out and worried about ping-pong, hugs, HUGS for Jens.

So many points to the editors for the Overly Dramatic Slow-Mo Edits of Doom for the Ping-Pong Off. Jens wins the competition 2-1. Woohooooo! He happily carries around his stack ‘o cash.

BJ waxes philosophical on the last day of training in a sunglasses-and-sweats outfit. While wearing no shoes. Its very beach warrior Zen.

Team Jens messes around and throws out some pro wrestling moves on each other. Boys, ya need to work on this a bit. The body slam was good, but the form on the leg drop needs work.

Also, I would like to thank both Gray and Nate for wearing their pants at the appropriate level after the weigh-ins. Seeing the very top of the underwear is hot, seeing the entire ass section is not.

And once again we bust out with the booze. Emerson decides to take out the whole table of trash in one fell swoop. Thankfully for him he comes through uninjured. The same cannot be said for the poor house which looses another window. I’d like to point out to Corey that no, not everyone has had those kind of nights, thank you.

Poor drunken passed out Cole gets a free head shaving from Manny.

Gray Maynard vs. Nathan Diaz

Round 1. The fighters lock up quickly and maneuver for position. Gray gets Nate to the ground, but Nate grabs an arm on the way down and uses it to keep Gray from doing not much other than defending for a few moments. Gray gets out and throws from nice punches from the top. Nate is bleeding from his eyebrow but keeps Gray tangled up. Gray backs up and they go back to standing followed by Gray getting another takedown. I think that its conceivable that Nate manages to try for just about every submission possible from the bottom during this exchange while Gray throws nasty punches.

Round 2. Gray gets Nate up against the fence and works to get him down to the mat. Gray transitions to a mount but Nate slides out backward and grabs a guillotine. Gray taps.

Winner: Nate Diaz via Guillotine Choke.

OK, Jens you have the momentum going into this, you won the Ping-Pong Off and the last two fighters are both on your team. Three for three!!!

And was I really tired last night, or did Karo play the “Doesn’t he KNOW who I AM?!?!” card? What the FUCK!

Karo and Manny have firmly established themselves as the two biggest assholes in the history of reality TV, and that covers a LOT of ground. They’re even surpassing Survivor and Amazing Race contestant annoyance.

Two upsets in my book. I didn’t think Manny or Diaz would pull off the win against fighters who looked more well-rounded throughout the show. Ultimo Santa says it best in regards to the Manny offense…boring.

You’re right, brandt delorenzo – two upsets for sure (although Diaz winning was probably the lesser of the two).

And Canson, the difference is that Johnny Fairplay is a hardcore wrestling mark, and he was playing a character. Karo and Manny live their bullshit 24/7.

I definitely think Nate had the right to be pissed. If some swaggering Armenian was slapping me in the face and grabbing my neck for 20 minutes babbling endlessly about ‘respect’ I would get a little testy too.

I enjoy Erin’s reviews. You can see thousands of reviews online that all look exactly the same, it’s interesting to see one from a different perspective.

It does annoy me when someone favorite fighter looses and they whine about
lay n pray. It as if The bell rang and Gamburyan hit the “easy” button and magically appeared in the top position. Lauzon had fifteen minutes to try and find an answer ko, sweep or submission he couldn’t do it, He lost. Hopefully this experience will help him in future fights

We should all be thankful that Erin writes these recaps with her unique humor and insights. If you want a dry play-by-play there are plenty of other writers on the web who give just the boring facts. But after all this place is called fightOPINION.

If all us straight guys were watching and reviewing a season of TUF with a female cast, don’t pretend we wouldn’t have our share of sexual comments and jokes.

Manny will try and pull the LnP shit in the final and Nate will submit him.
It looks like Karo is descending into Matt Hughes territory. I really had no idea what he was doing other than to be a prick just because he could.

Looking forward to see Leonard Garcia trade shots with the Monstah Lobstah.